Holly Holm's stale skill-set and repetitive errors

[Deleted member 587672]

I don't imagine that this thread will get much steam.
Holly has had a glistening breadth of career within the ceiling of WMMA and female combat sports.
Yet, she has been within MMA for 12 years and also got as stale as Ronda and as stale as Miesha.
Age aside, she has had almost identical approaches to her fights. Her combinations haven't changed. Her head angles haven't changed and one glaring hole sticks out to me.
If Holly can't get a clear shot when keeping the opponent against the cage, she will step back. Not just once, but she will step back until she backs herself up to the other side. This inevitably opens the space for her opponent attack.
Holly has always looked lost when fighting in close. So much so, that she would rather give up the pressure just to try and be in open ground. Then, her inevitably and ever weakening side push kick comes out, before she gets socked in the face.

 

[Wreckless]

Ish ish

 

[ArtardFiesta]

her weight class is an average division, so she can keep getting six figure fights without improving until she is 50.

 

[brakkkop]

Granny holmes has to retire.

 

[ChimRichalds]

Granny holmes has to retire.

H-O-L-M. No S, god damnit

 

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

135/145 is basically the women’s version of heavyweight.

Skill drops off the cliff the bigger fighters get.

Interested to see if influx of new fighters can take out the old guard

 

[EYEKICKFACES]

H-O-L-M. No S, god damnit

It's H-O-M-E.

 

[anachronist]

H-O-L-M. No S, god damnit

People confuse her with Larry Holmes .. they kinda look similar, so plz cut them some slack

 

[m249viking]

Holly is incredibly fit. Her social media posts show continuous physical exercise. Not a lot of fight training tho.

 

[MMAFanCal]

Holly is incredibly fit. Her social media posts show continuous physical exercise. Not a lot of fight training tho.

That is the state of Winklejohn academy. All they do, is cardio/strength training and no elite level striking, boxing and wrestling/BJJ coaches. I mean, Holly has been doing MMA for more than 10 years and she is so basic in everything she does. That repetitive three punch combination she does like she is on a timer and never landing a single shot, just shows she is operating in auto-pilot mode. The only time she is actually really trying to do something is when she is walling and stalling against the fence.

 

[Lee_]

Watch her early fights. She is skilled but old, so those skills don't come through anymore. Happens to everyone.

 

[Lee_]

People confuse her with Larry Holmes .. they kinda look similar, so plz cut them some slack

If Holmes could loan Holm his jab, she would be undefeated.

 

[cws80us]

I've always thought she looked stiff and unathletic, but she has great technical boxing skills. The problem is that just doesn't cut it anymore in wmma. The women have gotten more athletic and more well-rounded.

 

[Deleted member 587672]

Fitness will carry you through.
It has carried Arlovski.
It got Econoreem farther.
Just makes for atrocious viewing.

 

[SuperNerd]

Holly Holm is 41

 

[TITS]

135/145 is basically the women’s version of heavyweight.

Skill drops off the cliff the bigger fighters get.

Interested to see if influx of new fighters can take out the old guard

The problem isn't skill, it's just not enough fighters in those higher divisions. All the shitty fighters from 135 and 115 went to 125, which is the bottom of the barrel of women's divisions.

 

[Poirierfan]

H-O-L-M. No S, god damnit

The S is for stale apparently.

 

[DoctorTaco]

My old coach was brought in as a sparring partner when holm was boxing. Coach said holly couldn’t bust a grape.

 

[witt1021]

she hasnt really improved a lot herself. her skill set has remained at what it has been when she blasted ronda with that head kick. i believe that womens mma has just gotten better. they have found a better overall pool of talent. there still isnt many women in gyms today, but there are a lot more now than there was 10 years ago. i also see many more junior womens wrestlers when i take my son to his meets and camps. when i was in high school we had one girl in the entire conference. my sons team alone has 8. and we are on the lower end of female competitors. there are at least 40-50 female wrestlers in the conference now. women in combat sports is estimated to increase by over 300% in the next 10-20 years. holm hit her peak years ago. its a great peak to have. the competition is just that much better now. and its only going to get better. there will be a time in the future were all the women fighting are like cyborg and nunes. and then all us wmma haters will repent for our sins. and we will happily watch, instead of getting up to shit or grab a beer. plus holm is 41.

 

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

The problem isn't skill, it's just not enough fighters in those higher divisions. All the shitty fighters from 135 and 115 went to 125, which is the bottom of the barrel of women's divisions.

Not anymore. 125 has evolved and it is now on par 115 arguably an even better division IMO

But you are right about enough fighters. Personally I think the solution is to combine 135/145 into one division (have all 135er fight up 10lbs) and sign more girls